Thermal compression bonding is being used in the microelectronic industry for finer control of first level interconnect (FLI) formation. In thermal compression bonding, a microelectronic die is first heated up until the solder is melted and a solder joint is formed. The die is then cooled down until the solder is solidified. The process time is determined by both the heating time and the cooling time. It is critical to cool the solder joint in the FLI region quickly and uniformly to reduce the process time, and to guarantee the quality of the solder joint.